


Apples and Oranges

by Demenior



Category: Class of the Titans
Genre: Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-03
Packaged: 2018-04-12 19:46:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4492371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demenior/pseuds/Demenior
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Theresa and Archie are very different, but also very similar. Thankfully they're at a place in their lives where instead of fighting, they can help each other out.</p>
<p>(Its a lil slice of life moment)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Apples and Oranges

**Author's Note:**

> This is heavily dependant on my hc that Archie has mild psychic powers, better described as synesthesia, around weapons and magic.

Theresa moved quickly, flipping through the combination of her lock without even thinking about the numbers, and opened her locker to find the book she’d forgotten for class. Her English teacher didn’t like it when people showed up unprepared. Theresa normally wasn’t someone who forgot things like writing utensils, the appropriate books, or even her calculator, but it had been a full moon last night and so Persephone had kept her up late with scrying practice.

She pulled out her dog-eared, battered copy of _Hamlet_ and slammed her locker shut, turning as she clamped her lock back into place. Just down the hall a door opened and Archie slipped out of his classroom. He didn’t seem to notice her and rubbed at his eyes and temples. Theresa paused, unsure if she should still say hi or just walk away, but then Archie stumbled and caught himself against the wall.

She sighed. Hopefully her good behavior throughout the year would give her a little forgiveness from her teacher for taking too long to return to class.

“Hey,” she called softly as she approached Archie.

He looked up and she noticed his eyes were glossy, and he was squinting.

“Are you cutting class?” Archie asked, making a joke. He grimaced in pain and shut his eyes tightly.

“What’s wrong? Do you need to see the nurse?” Theresa asked instead.

Archie shook his head and waved her off, though he kept his head bowed and she was pretty sure he was keeping his eyes closed, “It’s nothing. I’m just—I need a little quiet time.”

“What was the trigger?” Theresa crossed her arms. Archie always tried to pretend he didn’t need any help, especially when he needed it most. She already had an idea of what was happening.

Archie finally lifted his head and shrugged, and he pushed off of the wall and forced Theresa to start walking with him, “Just goofing around in class. Some kids were tossing little bits of paper at each other, someone threw an eraser and I dodged it, or maybe I didn’t, whatever. But then, well, you know,” he gestured to his head, “the alarm bells went on and they won’t calm down. Couldn’t focus. Need to clear my head.”

“Are _you_ going to skip class?” Theresa ventured. She wouldn’t be surprised if he said yes. Archie going to clear his head sometimes meant a walk around the block, or it meant disappearing for three days, so it was always good to try and figure out which one he meant before he left.

“Maybe,” Archie replied vaguely, “what are you doing?”

Theresa held up her book and the pen she’d absent-mindedly carried out of class with her. Archie flinched away, and she quickly moved them to her other hand so they were as far from him as she could carry.

“Sorry,” she said, “I forgot pens get to you.”

Archie pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut, and slowed to a stop near where his locker was, “It’s fine, but I think I’m definitely skipping class now. That felt terrible.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Theresa asked again, “this seems like a bad reaction.”

“It’s just an overreaction,” Archie shrugged. He fumbled with his lock and had to tug it a few times to get it to open, “just my brain being an asshole.”

“Did you ever try any of the meditation techniques Persephone taught you?” Theresa leaned against the lockers beside him, keeping her book and pen behind her back, “they might help settle your brain down.”

Archie smirked at her as he opened his locker, “And so will taking a nap in my big, comfy bed—oh god!”

He flinched away violently from his locker, covering his eyes with one hand, the other outstretched like he was trying to hold something back. Theresa dropped her book on the floor and grabbed Archie before he fell over.

“Take a deep breath,” she commanded, and after a moment she heard him inhale shakily, “hold it for three seconds, and then breathe out.”

As an afterthought she reached out and closed Archie’s locker—which was filled with all sorts of normal, everyday student items with the exception that they could all be used as a potential weapon in the hands of someone creative enough. It was always interesting what Archie’s brain coded as Threat and Not Threat.

“Maybe you should go to the—” Theresa glanced around, “janitors closet. It’s closer.”

Archie shook his head, still not standing up straight, “Too much magic. Too loud.”

Theresa frowned, “Is it that bad?”

“This is not the time to have an argument over my opinions on magic,” Archie muttered, pushing away from Theresa.

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, “I meant is it really that bad in the—in the closet?”

Archie dragged his hands down his face, and tried to blink his eyes open, “I wish I was in a better mood to debate with all the accidental things you’re saying, but let’s save that for another time. Yes, the _closet_ is really loud, especially when I’m already triggered. I just need a quiet, dark, _normal_ place to lie down for a while.”

“Okay,” Theresa nodded, “can you make it home okay?”

Archie shrugged again, “Yeah, but, uh, can you get my bag from my locker?”

“How are you gonna make it home if you can’t even go into your locker?” Theresa pressed.

“Walking, duh,” Archie leaned back against the lockers and Theresa noticed he had his eyes screwed shut, “it’s not too far, and then I just have to clear my room and I’ll be good.”

“Clear your room,” Theresa repeated.

“Yeah. I have decorative katana swords, and other stuff that I’ve gotta shove into my closet.”

Theresa was silent, staring at him long enough that Archie cracked an eye open to gauge her reaction. She was scowling at him.

“It’s fine, I do it all the time,” he said.

“Nope,” Theresa shook her head, “I’m taking you home. Neil and I were gonna go shopping after school so I drove today. I’ll grab my keys. Do you need anything else from your locker?”

“You don’t have to drive me,” Archie said.

Theresa pulled a ruler from Archie’s locker and held it in his face. He recoiled so hard he hit the lockers with a loud bang, and curled in on himself.

“Don’t get macho with me,” she said sternly. Privately she wondered if that had been a little too mean on her part, but reassured herself that Archie wouldn’t relent to her help if she didn’t push him a bit.

“You’re a dick,” Archie snapped, though his voice cracked and undermined his angry tone.

Theresa felt bad, but if she admitted defeat right now Archie was going to take out all of his frustration on her.

“Stand up,” she ordered, “here’s your bag. I have to grab my purse from class, but I’ll be right back.”

Her teacher wasn’t impressed when Theresa told her something urgent had come up and she needed to leave, but thankfully she wasn’t forced to explain in detail. Odie and Jay, also in her class, gave her worried looks but Theresa quickly assured them that it wasn’t something they needed to worry about.

She half-expected Archie to have left already, but he was sitting beside his locker where she’d left him. He had his hood pulled as low over his face as he could get it, and his face in his hands. He looked absolutely miserable.

“Alright, let’s get outta here,” Theresa said, trying not to comment on how sorry he looked.

“Okay,” Archie said weakly, and got to his feet.

They’d made it only a few steps down the hall before Archie grabbed Theresa’s forearm with a shaky hand.

“I—I, uh, I can’t see well,” he admitted, “it’s all—everything is getting a little glowy.”

Theresa nodded, and tried to project calm as she said, “Okay.”

She hooked her arm through Archie’s and guided him out of the school. During the few sessions he’d actually shown up to with Persephone—and, incidentally, Theresa—Archie had tried to explain how he experienced his extra senses. Potential threats, in the form of weapons, always glowed or flashed bright colors to him, and magic made loud noises like it was singing. At times when his brain was triggered and starting thinking of everything as a threat, Theresa could imagine it would be hard to see when everything was glowing.

“If you talked to Persephone I’m sure she could come up with some way of handling this kind of thing,” Theresa said, trying to distract Archie with a conversation. She led him to the rails at the front stairwell out of their school, so that Archie could brace himself as they walked down.

“Persephone thinks if I train more then this won’t happen,” Archie shook his head, “but if I train more then I’ll be able to sense even more things, not just the stuff around me. I already have trouble being in my own room, what if I can’t even sleep at home because I can sense everything you guys have?”

Theresa was pretty sure it didn’t work that way, but then again she didn’t have Archie’s senses, “Fair enough,” she conceded, “but I can say that training helped with my powers. I don’t get nearly as many migraines. At least, none from accidental overstimulation.”

“Apples and oranges,” Archie muttered. While his senses were a form of psychic power, they weren’t anything like Theresa’s psychic abilities.

Theresa let Archie open the car door for himself. She’d tried to but he’d pushed her away and insisted he wasn’t _completely_ useless. He pulled his hood lower over his face and sunk into the seat.

“Why is the sun so bright?” he groaned.

Theresa dug her keys out of her purse and apologized when Archie flinched away from them. It was short ride home, thankfully.

“So if things just light up, then why is it so painful?” she inquired to fill the silence.

“They light up, but like, uh, an arcade? I have to pay attention to it—it’s not like a streetlight just glowing, but a neon flashing light. Um, I guess it’s like a radar ping? I don’t know. Normally it’s just a nudge, but it hurts when my brain is all hyperactive like this. I see it, but I also feel it, you know?” He didn’t look up at her but waved a hand around as he talked.

“Not really,” Theresa laughed, “but I think I get an idea? Maybe? I still think training with Persephone will help, though.”

“I’ll think on it,” Archie replied. Which meant he wouldn’t do it.

Theresa helped lead Archie inside and to the stairs. He had switched the basement room with Odie after Odie complained about the cold and Archie complained about the bright sun in his room.

“Thanks,” Archie said at his door, “you didn’t have to drive me.”

“You wouldn’t have made it home,” Theresa informed him, “and I’m not done yet.”

Archie smiled, though it looked more like a grimace so Theresa could tell he was in a lot of pain, “Are you going to tuck me in?”

“Fat chance,” Theresa said, “but I’ll help put all your red flags away. And then I need a nap too.” She yawned as she said it, and finally realized just how tired she was from staying up all night.

“You don’t have to,” Archie insisted.

“Open the door. I want to go to bed too,” Theresa said.

Archie sighed and opened his door. Technically all of their doors had individual locks so they could be locked when they were out of the house, but Theresa didn’t think anyone had locked their doors in the whole time they’d all been living together.

Archie’s room wasn’t as messy as she’d expected, but it still was far from clean. Unlike Atlanta or Odie he didn’t leave empty dishes on his floor or tucked under his bed, and while his laundry was tossed around his room, Theresa couldn’t judge him for that because she was the exact same with her clothes. There were lots of books laying around, all dog-eared and well-read, ranging from Homeric epics to last month’s Shonen Jump release.  Archie tossed his backpack in the direction of his closet, and gestured to his desk.

“Anything you can use to stab someone goes into the top drawer,” he instructed.

Theresa didn’t bother trying to learn Archie’s organization system, and swept every pen, pencil, marker, ruler and even eraser—for good measure—into the drawer as instructed. Archie stood on his bed and took all of the handing katana from their display mounts and almost fell on his face when he stepped off his bed.

“You’ll lose an eye at that rate,” Theresa commented.

“Might be for the better,” Archie grumbled. Theresa knew he wasn’t being angry at her and so she didn’t comment.

It only took a few more minutes to sweep the rest of Archie’s room and confirm that there wasn’t anything else that would trigger him too badly. Theresa found the sunglasses Hephaestus had made, magically enhanced to dim the effect of Archie’s senses, under a pair of jeans.

“Here,” she said, “maybe wearing these will help?”

They were less sunglasses and more safety goggles, completely opaque so you couldn’t see Archie’s eyes when he wore them, and they looked terrible. They had all teased Archie about them, and he refused to wear them.

“Ha ha,” Archie rolled his eyes, and then grimaced, “no, I’m just going to sleep now. I’ll be fine.”

“Alright, but they’re right here if you need them,” Theresa set the sunglasses on Archie’s desk, “do you need anything before I crash?”

Archie had already dropped face first into his pillow, but he shook his head.

“Hope you feel better soon,” Theresa said. She didn’t bring up taking medication since his headaches were more magical in nature, and Archie’s immune system meant painkillers didn’t work on him either.

“Theresa?” Archie croaked, lifting his head to look at her. She stopped, the door halfway closed, “um, thanks. I mean it. You didn’t have to help and I, uh, I appreciate it.”

“No problem,” Theresa smiled, “but you should talk to Persephone. She can help.”

“Sure,” Archie agreed, and dropped his face back into his pillow.

Theresa hoped that was verging on a yes. She hated leaving Archie like this, and while she could try some healing spells she’d been learning, she was too tired and too drained to think about casting any spells right now. Besides, Archie would probably tell her no anyways.

That was a problem for later, because right now her bed was calling and she was going to sleep until tomorrow morning.


End file.
